Do The Right Thing
by Brittana-Obsession
Summary: AU: Brittana. Santana is an assassin, Brittany a kindergarten teacher. Their worlds collide in a really sweet way.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi guys :) So, recently this whole new idea came to mind for a Brittana fic. I am really excited about this fic and where I want to take it. I hadn't planned on uploading this yet, but I couldn't stop myself from uploading it anymore, so here it is, the first chapter. Please hit the review section, find me on twitter, or send me a PM. I'd really like to know your thoughts on this one. Just because I'm excited for it doesn't mean you guys will be, so I'd like to know what you think. Right, enough from me. Hope you enjoy the first chapter :)**

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><p>I couldn't believe this was happening. This wasn't me. This wasn't what I did. It was the complete opposite of who I am. I was just doing my job. I hadn't expected this to happen. The last thing I expected when I was sweeping this house, was to find a seven week old baby abandoned in a cupboard. I hadn't expected her little green eyes to look up at me expectantly, like her life depended on me. But then it did, didn't it? Her life depended on me. Right now, sitting on the closed toilet seat, with this seven week old baby in one arm and my glock in the other hand, I realised this baby needed me. I had to make a choice. A choice about her life. She'd been abandoned by my target. Left behind in a haste to save themselves. Looking down at her little face, those little features, I had a major decision to make here.<p>

"What am I supposed to do with you, huh?" I asked the baby. I didn't expect her to answer of course. I didn't know much about babies, but I knew newborns can't speak.

"I can't take you home, I couldn't explain you to my neighbors or my sister. I can't risk being seen leaving this building with you. I can't have you linked back to me. So that means I have to kill you. Don't I?" I said, thinking aloud.

I feel sick but I can't help it. I raise the glock and hold it to the side of the baby's head. My hand is shaking. I can't even put my finger on the trigger. I can't do this.

"I can't do that, can I? I can't kill a baby. Damn! I'm supposed to be a ruthless, heartless bitch. You're screwing me up little one."

This little bundle of joy is looking up at me expectantly. She is so cute, how anyone could leave her behind seems crazy to me. So me killing her seems even crazier.

"What am I gonna do with you, huh? DAMMIT!"

She's squirming in my arm. I've scared her.

"Shhh." I murmur. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

She seems to be settling. I'm glad for that. She's squirmed in my arm and I can see something on her onesie now. Its a name, it's been sewn in.

"Anna. Is that your name?" I ask, looking at the baby. "Hi, Anna. I'm Santana." I find myself introducing myself to this baby.

"OK, we're doing this, right? Let's get you out of here." I say, standing up and putting my glock in the waist of my pants. I've cleared the house so I know it's safe.

I walk to the top of the staircase and stop. The cupboard door is still open. The cupboard I found the baby in. There's a bag. It's just a basic grocery bag, but there's something in it that makes me stop.

Shushing the baby as I go, I walk over to the cupboard door and fish out the bag.

"Multi tasking with a baby isn't easy." I mumble to myself.

Rummaging through the bag, I realise it's baby clothes. Not many just three outifts. A yellow onesie with little pink flowers on, a pink dress and a plain white onesie with nothing but a bunny rabbit on the front. At the bottom, there are a few loose diapers.

"We'll take these with us." I explain to the baby, even though talking to her makes me feel a little crazy.

"OK, let's get out of here." 

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><p>"Anna!" I called from the bottom of the staircase. "Let's go baby."<p>

Complete silence, then she comes prancing down the stairs nowhere near ready for her first day of school.

"Baby, what are you wearing?" I ask, trying to keep the smile from my face. We're pushed for time but she looks so adorable.

"It's my frozen costume silly!" my little girl beams proudly.

"Anna, I know you love frozen, and I know it's your first day at kindergarten. But you can't wear that! Come on, let me get you dressed. We gotta leave in ten minutes." I say, stretching out my arms to pick up my five year old.

"Why can't I wear it mommy?" she asked, moving the strand of hair from my face and putting it behind my ear.

"Maybe if there's a theme day or a party or something, but today I already have your outfit picked out."

I set Anna down on the sofa, leaning over picking up her t-shirt and her denim dungarees off the table.

"I can do it." she says, taking the outfit from me, and starting to change.

"Did you brush your teeth?" I ask, as I search for her converse.

"Uh-huh." she nods pulling the tshirt over her head. "And I brushed my hair to get the knots out. But I want you to put it up in a ponytail for me." she adds, slipping into the pants of her dungarees.

"Okay, you need some help with the buttons?" I ask, making my way back over to the sofa, converse and socks in hand.

"Yes, please." she says, fiddling with the buttons herself. She would never accept help without trying it herself first.

"Are you excited for your first day?" I ask, making conversation as I finish getting her ready.

"A little. Nervous too." she admits.

"You'll be fine. You're really smart." I try to encourage her.

"I liked my old school." she pouts.

"I know baby, but that was pre kindergaten. You're too old for that school now." I explain.

"Oh."

"OK, let me look at you." I say, as Anna stands up. She looks so adorable in her dungarees and converse with her little white tshirt with a bunny face on. Her little ponytail pulled up shows off her beautiful face. Hey big green eyes, her tiny rosy cheeks.

When I'd found her five years ago, my job was simple. I was supposed to kill her, and her parents, collect my payment and move on to the next target. That was my job. Now looking at her, five years later, I knew I'd made the right decision five years ago in that bathroom. Raising her as my own was the only option and I was glad I'd taken it. It had completely changed my life.

"Mommy. It's time to go." Anna little voice pulled me from my thoughts.

"Right. Let's go." I said, as Anna placed her small hand in mine.

"Do you have your backpack?" I asked as we reached the front door.

"Yep." she said, looking up at me.

"OK. Let's get you to school. Mommy has things to do today." I say, closing and locking the front door behind me before leading Anna to the car. 

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><p>"Mommy, can I go?" I'm looking around all the kids and other parents standing outside the front of the school. Lots of parents look happy that their kids are going to go to school, learn and grow. But some are sad. Sad that they have to watch their little ones grow up and change.<p>

"Huh?" I ask, looking down at Anna who is tugging on my hand.

"I wanna go." she states simply, looking towards the front door of the building.

"Just a second baby." I say, taking in all the people around me. I knew it would be busy here today, but my profession makes me suspicious of everything and everyone. I need to check out my surroundings before I'm prepared to let my little girl walk away.

"Hi."

I'd been blidesided. I hadn't seen this woman approach me. I was too busy looking everywhere else, I hadn't noticed what or who was right in front of my face.

"Hello." I said, turning my attention to the blonde woman standing in front of me.

"Mommy!" Anna said again, tugging on my hand.

"She'll be ok." the blonde said, urging me to let Anna go.

"Have a good day, baby. I'll be here at three pm. Okay? Gimme kisses." I said, bending down to be eye level with my little girl.

Anna gives me a small peck, before making the most of me letting go of her hand, and running towards a group of kids walking in the front door.

"I'm sorry, can I help you?" I ask, turning my attention back to the blonde in front of me.

"Hi, I'm Miss Pierce. I'm the kindergarten teacher." she says, holding out her hand for me to shake.

"Oh, hi. I'm Santana Lopez." I say, reaching out my hand for her to shake.

The second my hand is in hers though, I feel like I've just had a static shock. I pulled my hand away sheepishly, wondering what that was all about.

"Is that your little girl?" the blonde asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Yeah, Anna. She's five." I reply, and can't keep the smile from my face while talking about her.

"She'll be okay. I'm the kindergarten teacher, so she'll be in my class today. I could keep an eye on her, but I get the feeling she won't need it. She looked like she couldn't wait to get in there and mingle." the blond chuckled.

"Yeah, she's been craving time with people her own age." I find myself explaining.

"Then she'll have fun. If she needs anything, I'll help her." the blonde says, and smiles.

She has a beautiful smile. Her whole face lights up when she smiles and makes me realise for the first time how beautiful her sparkling blue eyes are. I didn't know why I hadn't noticed it yet, but I noticed it now for sure. She was beautiful.

"Thank you. The school has my numbers if anything happens." I mumble, trying to bring my focus back to the conversation and off of her eyes.

"Great, we'll see you at three o'clock then." the blonde says, turning and making her way towards the building.

"You sure will." I mumble, but I doubt she heard me. I wasn't sure what it was about this woman but for a full minute after she had disappeared into the building, I couldn't move. I was stuck on the spot, looking at the door.

"What am I doing?" I ask myself out loud, before turning and heading back to the car. I feel like a total idiot for standing there so long. 

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><p>"Okay boys and girls. We're gonna start with a little ice breaker." Brittany says, looking at the sea of kids looking up at her. She has them sat on the carpet, while she sits on the table.<p>

"What's an ice breaker?" a little boy asks, with his hand up in the air.

"Hi, what's your name?" Brittany asked the little boy.

"Joel." he replied, his cheeks pinking a little.

"Joel, an ice breaker is just another word for getting to know each other. Does that make sense?"

The boy nodded his head and smiled in confirmation.

"Okay, can you guys sit in a circle and I want you all to take it in turns to say your name and how old you are. You think you can do that?" Brittany asked.

A chorus of yes's and nodded heads made Brittany confident this was a good idea.

"Hi, I'm Joel Nichols and I'm six."

"Hi, Alexis Meyer and I'm five."

"I'm Louis Davis and I'm five."

"Hey, I'm Matthew Doors and I'm six."

"Hi, I'm Naomi Paul and I'm six."

"Paul is a boys name!" one of the children shouts.

"Paul is also a second name." Brittany explains. "Carry on guys." Brittany added as she made a note of each childs name and age.

"I'm Colin Smith and I'm five."

"I'm Louisa May and I'm six."

"I'm Teri Hughes and I'm five."

"I'm Lisa Matthews and I'm five."

"Hi, I'm Kyle Porter and I'm six."

"Hey, Dennis Mitchell and I'm five."

"Hey, my names Anna Lopez and I'm five." Brittany smiled when she noticed this was the girl who had been eager to get inside when she'd stopped and talked to the woman. Santana Lopez. Brittany wrote Anna's name and age and then wrote a small note next to it. Something about this child and her mother had Brittany intrigued.

"Hi, I'm Peter Jackson and I'm six."

"Hey, I'm Hayley Peters and I'm five."

"I'm Morgan Jones and I'm six."

"I'm Kerry Grove and I'm five."

"Okay, now I know everyone's name I guess it's my turn. I'm Brittany Pierce and I'm ... Wait, should I tell you guys how old I am?" Brittany wondered out loud.

The chorus of yes's persuaded her so she continued.

"I'm Brittany Pierce and I'm twenty eight. And I'm your teacher." she said, smiling down at the kids.

"Hi Brittany!" most of the kids shouted.

"Shhh! You can't call me that. You guys have to call me Miss Pierce okay?" Brittany said looking down at the kids. She could tell they were confused. "I'm the teacher, so yeah. I know, it sucks. But those are the rules." she shrugged.

After a minute of silence, it seemed the kids didn't care anymore. They just seemed restless, like they were bored and wanted something fun to do.

"Would you guys like to do some painting today?" Brittany asked, trying to keep the kids happy.

Most of the kids said yes, but a few didn't seem that excited by the idea.

"Who doesn't want to paint?" She asked, trying to keep an idea of how many wanted to do it and what other activity she could come up with.

Four of the kids put their hands high in the air.

"Okay, Joel, Lisa, Alexis and Anna. What would you guys rather do?" she asked, hoping to engage them.

"I wanna read." Lisa said.

"Can I draw instead?" Joel asked.

"Yeah, I'd like to draw too." Alexis added.

When Anna didn't answer, Brittany moved closer to the girl and crouched down so she was at eye level.

"What about you Anna? What do you wanna do?" Brittany asked.

Anna seemed shy at first. Like she didn't want to speak. Brittany was about to say something again, but Anna stopped her.

"I'd like to explore." the child replied.

"What do you mean?" Brittany asked, giving her full concentration to the little girl.

"I just wanna see everything. I wanna know where things are and what things I can do." Anna replied, looking directly in to Brittany's eyes.

"Well, do you wanna come help me get all the painting and drawing supplies?" Brittany asked as she tried to come up with a compromise. She could tell the girl was independant and that she wanted to explore and get to know her surroundings better. But she couldn't just let a five year old wander around the school unaccompanied.

"That sounds okay." the child replied, standing and moving towards Brittany.

"Okay, class why don't you all go pick a seat. There are several tables set up over there." Brittany pointed to the corner where five tables were set up. Each square table had four chairs around it. There was room for twenty, but Brittany only had sixteen in her class.

The kids all got up from where they'd been sitting on the carpet and made their way over to the tables. The boys seemed to sit together while the girls did the same thing. Brittany thought about breaking them up a little so that they could mingle better, but she thought she'd leave it this way for a while and see how things worked out.

"Ok, Anna come with me." Brittany said, stretching out her hand for the child to take. Anna didn't hesitate. She slipped her much smaller hand into Brittany's and stood right next to her.

"You guys be real good. I'll be right back." Brittany said to the class as she left the room and stopped at the classroom across the hall.

Brittany knocked lightly on the door before poking her head inside. There were about two dozen teenagers sitting with their heads in textbooks.

"Hi, sorry to interrupt." Brittany said to the teacher as the students became more interested in her than their books. "Can you just keep an eye on my class for a few minutes? I'm just going to the store room."

"Yeah, sure." the teacher replied, smiling at Brittany. "Class, continue reading through this chapter until I get back. Any questions, write them down and I'll answer them when I'm back."

"Hey, hot stuff. Can I get your number?" one of the guys in the class shouted. But Brittany just brushed him off and walked out of the room, Anna still by her side.

"Hi, I'm Rachel Berry. I teach eigth grade." she said, pointing in direction of the room she'd just left.

"Brittany Pierce. I'm the new kindergarten teacher." Brittany said, reaching out her hand and shaking Rachel's.

"Go." Rachel said then, walking towards Brittany's class room. "I'll keep an eye on the kids."

"Thanks." Brittany said, as she began to walk away.

"Brittany?"

Brittany looked down at the little girl at her side.

"Sorry Miss Pierce." the child corrected.

"Yes, Anna?" Brittany asked, smiling. This child was adorable.

"I need to go to the bathroom." Anna said, her cheeks pinking a little. "Sorry." she mumbled.

"It's ok. Let's take you to the bathroom and then we can go get the supplies for the class." Brittany said, smiling down at the girl to let her know that it was okay that Anna wanted to go to the bathroom.

The two walked hand in hand down the corridor and took a left at the end, they walked down the new corridor and stopped halfway. The door on the right read toilets. One had a little girl on and the one next to it had a picture of a little boy.

"Are you okay or do you need any help?" Brittany asked, kneeling so she was at eye level with the child.

"Can you undo my buttons, please?" Anna asked, looking into Brittany's blue eyes.

"Sure." Brittany said, leaning forward and snapping open the two buttons. "Are you okay to go by yourself?" Brittany asked then.

"Uh-huh. I'll just be a minute." Anna said, as she raced towards the bathroom door.

Brittany stood in the hallway, looking at the door thinking about the child. She wasn't quite sure what it was, but already she could tell that this child was special. Something about her made Brittany wanna be close to her, to help her in any way she could. Maybe it was something to do with her mother. Brittany had enjoyed talking to the woman, Santana, and felt herself looking forward to the next time they would speak. Brittany didn't know what was happening, but she felt intrigued by the woman and her little girl. She wanted to get to know both of them better and that's just what she planned to do.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: First of all, I just want to say a BIG thank you to all who have reviewed, both here and on twitter. I was shocked to see how much interest this story seemed to get. I've written several fanfics, but so far this one has easily got to be my personal favourite, so thank you all for your encouragement. Just want to take a minute to answer some questions raised by reviewers, then i'll let you get on to the fic :)**

**JMonte: I hope this chapter answers some of your questions. I can't give you answers to some of them yet, because I don't want to reveal too much too soon. But I promise, as the story progresses, you will get all the answers you're looking for :)**

**Setch: Thank you for your comments. I appreciate them. Sorry if some of it seems cliché to you, but I had to try and get that first jolt between them and I tried to do it in a not so subtle way. I hope you continue to read this story and that no more of it seems too cliché.**

**To all my other reviewers, both here and on Twitter, I value your thoughts and support tremendously. Enough from me. Let's get to what you've all been waiting for :)**

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><p>"This is Isla Bonita. I'm requesting a rendezvous point." Santana spoke into her cell phone.<p>

"Isla Bonita, your contact will be visiting the special lady in the city in twenty minutes. Do you understand?" the female voice on the other end of the line answered.

"Copy that, control. Have a nice day." Santana replied.

Twenty minutes later she was standing on Liberty Island, looking up at the Great Lady herself. Santana had always loved the Statue Of Liberty. She didn't know much behind the history of it apart from the basics. But she loved how she stood. Tall, strong, proud. Just like her country.

"Going up?" a male voice asked, from behind her.

"What do you think?" she asked, not looking behind her. She knew everything there was to know about her handler, and she trusted him as much as she trusted anybody.

"I think you should go up, take in the sights. There's a rather important sight you need to see. You'll know it when you see it." he said.

"Inside or outside?" Santana asked, scanning the crowd, taking in the faces around her.

"Inside."

"Got it." she answered, ready to move and go take the elevator ride to the observation deck of Lady Liberty.

"You made a mistake." he called after her, stopping her in her tracks.

"Excuse me?" Santana said, twirling round mid stride and looking the man in the face.

"You made a mistake. You should never have kept the kid." he answered.

"When I want your opinion, I'll ask for it Nighthawk." Santana spat. She was fuming. She couldn't believe this guy was trying to get into her personal business.

"Don't forget who you're talking to, Bonita." he answered, in a hushed tone.

"Don't you talk about my personal business and we'll be fine, sir." she replied.

He didn't say anything to that. He just gave a small nod of his head. Then in the blink of an eye, he was gone. Damn spooks.

Santana went and purchased her ticket, then took the elevator ride to the observation deck of The Statue of Liberty. She knew visits to the crowd had to be reserved beforehand. It wasn't as busy as she'd been expecting. She knew it was a popular tourist attraction and she knew regular New Yorkers came here sometimes so she'd expected it to be busy. She stepped off the elevator and scanned her surroundings, taking in the faces of all the people around her. It wasn't as busy as usual, but there were still a couple of dozen people up there. She suspected there were more up in the crown. She walked towards one of the windows and looked out. The view really was spectacular.

For a minute, Santana was unsure of what she was supposed to be looking for, but she knew it would be in here somewhere. She pulled a packet of gum from her pocket and threw one into her mouth. She balled up the wrapper and walked towards the bin at the back wall. She dropped the wrapper in and that's when she saw it. A key, it was taped against the brick wall, barely in view. Santana looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to her, before she leaned down and retrieved the key. She walked back over to the window because she felt it was less suspicious than hanging around the bin. When she was sure no one was watching her, she turned the key over in her hand and looked down at it. The number 35 was etched into the top part of the key.

Santana walked towards the lockers on the back wall, and scanned them all. When her eyes landed on number 35, she inadvertently squeezed the key tighter in her hand. She took a deep breath, and slipped the key into the lock. She tried to turn it, but it wouldn't move. Her first instinct was to panic, but her training kicked in. She pulled the key out, took another deep breath, then slipped the key back into the lock. She wiggled it a little, and turned the key and was rewarded with the soft pop of the lock opening. Santana sighed. She'd been doing this job for as long as she could remember but sometimes, she still got butterflies and worried about what was going on.

She opened the door of the locker and was puzzled that there seemed to be nothing in there. She thought about getting her phone out and calling for another consult with her handler to see what was going on, but then stopped herself. She took a breath, and reached her hand inside the locker, feeling around inside. She'd been expecting the same old CIA manilla folder, but that's not what she found. When she pulled her hand out from the locker, she found a small, leatherbound notebook in her hand. She wanted to know what this was and what was going on but she resisted the urge to open the book and start looking. Instead, she left the locker door open, ready for the next person to use. And made her way over to the elevator.

She held on to the book tightly as she rode down in the elevator. She wouldn't mind brining Anna here soon, let her see the beautiful views, maybe even invite that beautiful blonde with the sparkling blue eyes along. Santana shook her head, she didn't know why she was thinking of her daughters teacher right now. When the elevator came to a stop, Santana stepped out and was glad to be back on solid ground. She'd never had a problem with heights but she wasn't happy about the rendevous point. She felt like there weren't enough escape routes, had something gone wrong.

Santana got back to her car and locked the doors behind her. She flipped open the notebook to the first page. She didn't fully understand what it was she had in her hand. She flipped through a few more pages, skim reading as much as she could. When she got to the fifth page, she stopped. Realization hit her. She was starting to get an idea of what this was, and the more she read, the more she felt sick.

"This is Isla Bonita. I'm requesting to come in to HQ. I need an urgent meeting." Santana said into her phone.

"Isla Bonita you're breaking protocol." the female voice replied.

"I know, I know. But this is urgent." Santana replied.

"All HQ meetings are to be arranged with your handler. Would you like me to set up a meeting with your handler, Isla Bonita?"

"No, I just saw him. It's because of the information he gave me that I need the meeting. Please, I know it's against protocol. But I need to come in, and I need to do it now!" Santana pleaded.

"Do you remember where checkpoint coleman is?" the female voice asked.

"Yes."

"Rendevous at Checkpoint Coleman in fifteen minutes, and you will be picked up."

"OK, thank you Operator." Santana said.

"Not a problem Bonita." the female replied, before ending the call.

Santana put the notebook on the passenger seat next to her, and put on her seatbelt. She had a few more hours before she had to pick up Anna from school, and she had a lot to do in that time. 

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><p>"OK guys, can you stop what you're doing. It's almost twelve and that means, lunchtime." Brittany said to the kids, walking around the room taking in what they were all doing.<p>

They'd stuck with painting for less than an hour before they got bored. Then Brittany had sat them all down on the carpet in the reading corner and read them a book. When they asked for another, Brittany didn't hesitate to read a second. When that was done, the kids seemed restless, like they were going to fall asleep, so Brittany had decided to take them outside into their play area. She had been assigned a teaching assistant to help, and Brittany thought the girl was great. They'd both stood talking, and getting to know each other a little bit, whilst watching the kids. They'd played on the swings and the roundabout, then some of the girls decided to play skipping rope games whilst the boys played with a ball. A few of the kids seemed to be playing chase too. When they wore themselves out, Brittany had asked her assistant, Emily, to help her round the kids up and get them back inside. When they were back inside, she let them break off into their own little groups and explore all the different things they could do in the classroom. And that's what they were doing until Brittany had stopped them for lunch.

"Anything you've been using can you put it away. Once we're ready, we can go have lunch." Brittany said, as all the children started clearing up after themselves. She was amazed there wasn't any resistance. No child trying to see if the teacher would clean up after them.

When Brittany was satisfied the room was clean, she told them all to go sit at their desks and wait for their lunches to be handed out.

"How many children brought their own lunches?" Emily asked, as she followed Brittany into the small room, within the classroom.

"Seven brought their own. Kids can be picky so their parents give them what they know the kid will eat." Brittany answered, retrieving the labelled lunch bags from the cupboard they'd been stored in earlier.

"This is Kerry's, this is Peter's and that's Joel's. Can you take them out to them please?" Brittany asked, handing the three lunch packs to Emily.

She picked up the remaining four lunch packs, reading the labels to see who's was whose. She walked back into the classroom, the four lunch packs in hand, and watched as all the kids seemed to be interested in the first three lunch packs that had been brought out. It was like they were assessing each others lunch.

"Hayley, here's your lunch." Brittany said, handing off the bag with Hayley's name on.

"Kyle." Brittany said, handing the child his lunch.

"Lisa, here you go."

"And finally, Anna. Here's your lunch, sweetie." Brittany said, placing the lunch pack on the table in front of the child.

"Thank you." Anna replied, smiling up at Brittany.

"You're welcome" Brittany replied, as she made her way back into the lunch room. She hadn't figured Santana as the home lunch kinda mom.

"What about the others?" Emily asked, as Brittany re entered the lunch room.

"Their lunch will be delivered down in a second." Brittany answered, getting out cups to pour the childrens juice in.

"That doesn't seem fair." Emily said, watching as the first seven children started opening their lunch, as the other sat and waited.

"We try to give their lunches out together, but there's usually a couple of minutes delay. We can't give them all out at once anyway, so it makes sense to do it this way." Brittany explained, pouring juice into the cups.

Brittany and Emily went around the children who were still waiting for their lunch and placed a cup of juice in front of each of them. When they were done, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Brittany called.

"Lunch is here. Sorry for the delay." the lunch lady said, placing the trays on the counter tops in the lunch room.

"Not a problem, thank you Maggie." Brittany said, as the lunch lady left.

"Are they all the same?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, they all eat the same food. We just change what we give them each day." Brittany explained. "Let's go feed these kids." she added, as she picked up three plates and made her way over to the tables. 

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><p>"Their food looks nicer than ours." Lisa whispered, as she looked down at hers and Anna's lunch. Then over at the other kids who were having a school lunch.<p>

"I dunno. It depends what you like." Anna said, looking around all the kids eating. "I didn't even know my mom made me lunch. I thought I was having a school lunch today."

"Oh, well. At least your mom knows what you like." Lisa said, opening up her stringy cheese.

"Yeah, she does. She's the best." Anna said, opening the wrapper to get to her sandwich. "I just thought she said I should try the school dinner first to see if I liked it."

"It looks nice." Lisa commented, picking at her stringy cheese. She had a sandwich in her lunch but she'd decided to start with the cheese.

"It tastes nice too." Anna replied, after she'd finished her first bite of sandwich.

The two girls sat and ate in silence then for a few minutes, enjoying their respective lunches.

"I need another juice." Lisa said then, shaking her now empty carton. "Miss Pierce, may I have more juice please?" Lisa asked, as she held her empty juice carton in the air.

"Sure Lisa, give me a second." Brittany said, as she went back into the lunch room to retrieve the pitcher of juice. She came back less than a minute later and poured Lisa a drink.

"Anyone else want more juice?" Brittany asked then, and a few hands shot up.

"Isn't she pretty?" Anna asked, watching Brittany as she walked from child to child, filling up their cups.

"Miss Pierce? Yeah, she's pretty." Lisa agreed, sipping on her juice.

Anna finished her sandwich and balled the wrapper up, she decided to eat her yohurt then. She picked up her little plastic spoon and dipped it into her yoghurt.

"Miss Pierce." Lisa said, throwing her hand in the air again.

"Yes, Lisa?" Brittany asked, making her way over to the child.

"Miss Pierce, can you take me to the bathroom?" Lisa asked.

Brittany looked around the room and spotted Emily sitting in the corner, keeping her eye on the children from a distance.

"Emily, can you watch them on your own for a few minutes while I take Lisa to the bathroom?" Brittany asked.

"Sure, Miss Pierce." Emily replied, standing up and making her way over to the children.

"Thanks, I'll be right back." Brittany replied, as she held out her hand for Lisa to take.

Anna was just finishing her yoghurt, when she felt herself flush. She felt really hot all of a sudden. She reached for her juice took mouthfuls of it, hoping it would cool her down. Instead, she felt her head go fuzzy. She felt sick. Something was wrong.

"Emily." Anna said, raising her hand.

"What's up kiddo?" Emily asked, picking her eyes up from where she'd been reading a text message on her phone.

"Oh, crap!" she said, when she saw Anna's face. "Anna come here!" she said, mvoving toward the child.

When Anna tried to stand, she fell to the floor. Within seconds, she started to convulse. Emily was out of her depth. The other kids seemed to notice something was going on and all began to panic and shout when they saw Anna shaking on the floor.

Emily placed Anna in the recovery position and tried to remember her first aid training. Her mind was blanking. She cursed herself.

Just then Brittany re entered the room with Lisa at her side. The child's eye went wide at seeing her new friend sprawled out on the floor, shaking. Immediate panic took over the room.

Almost instantaneously, Brittany ushered all the kids into the reading corner, trying to keep them away from what was going on. Lisa seemed more than reluctant to stay there. She wanted to go and see what was happening with her friend. She was scared.

Brittany rushed from the children over to where Emily sat, holding Anna in the recovery position.

"What happened?!" Brittany screamed. She didn't know why she was screaming.

"She just dropped. One minute she was eating her lunch. The next she just dropped. Look at her face!" Emily shouted.

"Did you call 911?" Brittany asked.

"No, I dropped my cell phone over there." Emily answered, pointing to where she'd been sitting.

Brittany jumped up, and went to retrieve the phone. As soon as she picked it up, she found her fingers automatically dialling the emergency services.

She told them what little she knew about what had happened and what the child was doing now. The voice on the phone told her the paramedics would be there within minutes.

The next thing Brittany did shocked herself. She went to her desk and found the folder with all the parents numbers in. She found herself dialling Santana's cell phone, before she'd even informed the school of what was happening. 

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><p><strong>AN 2: If there are any mistakes regarding the Statue of Liberty and the set up, I apologise. I've never been. Also, I understand that lunch time may also not work that way in schools in the States. Please let me know what you thought. Thanks :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys, I'm back again. This chapter gave me so many feels writing it, so I hope you all enjoy it. Please hit the review section and let me know what you think. Also, a massive thank you to all who have already reviewed, both here and on twitter. And thank you all for the favourites and follows :) Any questions or thoughts, hit me up in the PM's or over on twitter. My username is in my bio. Before I let you get on with the reading, I need to address something that was brought to my attention in the reviews of the last chapter. I am not now, nor have I ever been from the US. The only time I've ever been, I was four years old and went to Florida. So it was a shock to me when someone pointed out to me that the term Spook is a derogatory, offensive, racist word in the US. I had NO idea. I am by no means racist, and I didn't intend to offend anyone. The term spook, in the UK, is another word for a Spy, someone who is undercover. Someone who is in an organization like the CIA. That was what I meant when I used the term. It probably won't appear again in this fic, but I left it in the last chapter, because it was important. I hope that clears that up. Once again, I apologise for anyone who was offended. Now on to the next chapter :) **

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><p>I was driving to the hospital on auto pilot. My mind was in over drive. Anna had collapsed at school after eating her lunch, the lunch I had given her. Only, I hadn't given her lunch. We'd agreed that she should try the school food first. I began to assess all the information I had.<p>

One: The diary I had found at the Statue of Liberty that let me know that Anna's parents were back in the city and planning something big, like _really _big.

Two: That I hadn't given Anna a lunch, so either someone had made a mistake and given her the wrong lunch, or someone had intentionally given her a lunch to do one of two things: either to hurt her to get at me, or to make her have a reaction, which would send her to the hospital, where they could try and kidnap her.

I had asked the kindergarten teacher, Brittany Pierce to stay with Anna. To go with her to the hospital and to not leave her side. I'd managed to do a little digging into Brittany's background and knew that she seemed to be a pretty good person, with a decent family background and that she loved children. Apart from myself, right now she was the only other person I trusted with my little girls life.

As I pulled up at the hospital, I began to panic. Even though I'd been through all this years ago when I first decided to keep Anna, I hated visits to doctors and hospitals. The CIA had allowed me to create a new identity for my daughter, in order for her to stay with me and be safe. It had never let me down in the past five years, but that didn't stop me from panicking now. I didn't want anyone to discover the truth and let it slip to Anna.

"Hi, I'm Santana Lopez. My daughter Anna was brought in here."

"One second please, ma'am." the receptionist said, as she moved towards her computer and began typing.

My heart rate picked up, my palms became sweaty. I hated being stuck here.

"She's down the hall, take the first left and her room is on the right. She's in room 212."

"Thank you." I breathed, trying not to sigh in relief. They hadn't found out that I wasn't actually Anna's mom.

I fast walked, slow jogged, towards Anna's room. I was good with details, so I found my way to her room easily. When I got there, that sigh of relief I'd been holding finally slipped out. My baby girl was sitting up in bed, talking animatedly to her teacher. I stood still on the spot for a few more seconds, taking in the image in front of me, completely happy and relieved that my little girl was okay, and that she was safe here with her teacher.

"Hey, baby." I said, as I walked into the room and sat right next to Anna's bed. Her teacher stayed sitting on the other side.

"Hi, Mama." Anna said, stretching her arms out for a hug.

"Hi, Santana." Brittany said, as she stood to leave.

"Brittany, hi. Don't go." I found myself rambling out all at once. I hoped she didn't mind me using her first name, but she had called me by mine, so I hoped it was okay.

"Mama, I scared everyone." Anna mumbled, still hugging me around the neck.

"You're damn right you did!" I replied.

"Santana, language!" Brittany said, as she sat back next to the bed.

"Sorry." I replied, blushing a little.

Anna just chuckled. Clearly she found her mother being admonished by her teacher, amusing.

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that." Brittany said, as she started to blush.

The room fell silent for a minute as I checked over my baby girl to make sure there was no lasting damage or bruising or anything from her fall. Brittany seemed to stay quiet, sitting beside Anna's bed, and watching the interaction. Just then the door opened and a woman, slightly older than Santana and Brittany, entered. She walked to the end of the bed and picked up Anna's chart.

"Hi, I'm Doctor Coburn, I take it you're Anna's mom?" she asked, looking at the chart in her hand, then looking up at me.

"I am, Santana Lopez." I answered, reaching out a hand to shake hers.

"How are you feeling now, Anna?" the doctor asked, turning her attention to my little girl.

"Better, thank you." Anna replied. "Although my leg hurts."

"Sorry about that, it's where the paramedics injected you with adrenaline." the doctor explained, as she replaced the chart on Anna's bed.

"Doctor, what happenend?" I asked.

"Your daugher had a severe allergic reaction, and went in to anaphalactic shock. The paramedics gave her a shot of adrenaline, and she recovered pretty quickly. Do you know what caused the reaction?" the doctor asked, looking between me and Brittany, and then down at Anna.

"I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before it happened?" Anna asked.

"That'll do it. Seems you have an allergy to nuts. Did you not know about this already mom?" the doctor asked, turning her attention to me.

I just shook my head. How could I have not known about something so important. Something so life threatening.

"Well, from now on Anna, you will have to carry something called an EpiPen. It's basically just a shot of adrenaline. If anything like this happens again, use it straight away and you should be okay. A nurse will be in soon to give you an antihistamine and for now, I'm going to put you on a short course of steroids so you don't have a recurrance. And we're gonna have to get you a medical bracelet. But apart from that, you can go home soon." the doctor finished, looking back up at me again.

"Thank you."

"Not a problem, just make sure she stays away from nuts from now on. Bye Anna." the doctor said, turning and leaving the room.

"I'm sorry. I can't believe I didn't know." I mumbled, leaning my head down on to Anna's chest. I felt so guilty. I couldn't help but think that her real mom would know stuff like that about her.

"Hey, come on Santana, it's not your fault." Brittany said, getting up and walking around the bed. "Until these things happen, you can't know." she said, placing her hand on the small of my back.

"I'm her mother, I should know these things!" I felt myself getting angry, not at Brittany but it seemed to come off that way. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to lash out at you. This isn't your fault."

"It's okay." Brittany said, running her hand up and down my back. It was distracting.

"No more PB&J sandwiches in my lunch now mom." Anna said, as she moved the strand of her behind my ear. That seemed to be a habit when she was trying to make me feel better.

"Speaking of sandwiches, Brittany how did Anna get a home lunch? She was supposed to have a school lunch today." I asked, trying to distract myself from the movement of her hand on my back.

"I don't know. There must have been a mix up or something. There was a home lunch with Anna's name on it." Brittany explained, removing her hand from my back and taking a step back. "I'll look into it though." she added, making her way back around to the other side of Anna's bed.

"Yeah, please do. Thanks." I answered, instantly missing the feeling of her warm hand.

"I should go. Anna I'll see you at school tomorrow, maybe?" Brittany said, bending down and picking up her purse.

"I don't know, I think she may take a couple of days off. Just to make sure she's okay." I answered, looking down at Anna.

"No, mom. I want to go to school tomorrow. I signed up for a dance class and it starts tomorrow after school. I really wanna go." my little girl whined.

"I don't know, baby. I need to make sure you're okay." I answered, stroking Anna's head.

"I'm fine, mom. You heard the doctor. Please, I really wanna try this new dance class. And I want my new friends at school to know that I'm okay. I scared them pretty bad." Anna rambled.

"Ok, tomorrow you can go back to school. I'll pick you up after and if you feel okay, we can talk about the dance class." I conceded.

"Well, the dance teacher is pretty cool. I'm sure she'd keep an eye on Anna for you." Brittany said. She'd been so quiet, I almost forgot she was still in the room.

"Oh, you know the dance teacher?" I asked.

"Yup, and she's pretty awesome. I think she wouldn't mind watching out for Anna."

"Please, mom?" Anna asked, looking up at me with her big green eyes. I had already lost, I could tell. I could never refuse that look.

"Okay, when I take you to school tomorrow, I'll try and find this dance teacher. I'll let her know what's happened and ask her to look out for you. If she agrees, you can go."

"I agree." Brittany said from beside me.

"What?" I asked, as my brain caught up.

Anna seemed to love the idea of dance even more than she had only moments ago.

"I agree. I'll look out for my favourite student." Brittany said, moving closer to Anna's bed and giving her a high five.

"You're the dance teacher?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"I am. And Anna is in. I'll look after her. Don't worry." Brittany said, moving towards the door of Anna's room. "I'll see you both tomorrow." she added, then left the room.

"She's the best!" Anna exclaimed, excitedly.

My little girl sure wasn't wrong. Her new teacher was becoming even more intriguing to me, and the more time I spent with her, the more I began to like her. 

* * *

><p>I'd taken Anna home an hour after Brittany had left us in the hospital room. I'd given her the tablets the nurse had told me to, she'd taken a bath and I put her to bed. She needed rest and relaxation. I was exhausted myself, I couldn't believe how tiring the day had been, and not long after I put Anna to bed, I was in bed and falling asleep myself.<p>

The next morning, I was reluctant about sending Anna to school. I wanted her to have the day off, to relax and rest some more before she went back. The last thing she needed was class all day and then a dance class. But she wasn't taking no for an answer.

"Thank you, mama." Anna said, as she leaned over in the car and kissed me.

We were sitting outside her school, most of the other kids had already gone in. I'd decided that we would be a little late, I didn't want her dealing with the hustle and bustle of the bigger kids.

"Come on, let's go find Miss Pierce." I replied, taking off my seatbelt and opening the car door.

Anna walked around the car and stopped next to me. She took my hand and looked at the school. I wasn't sure if she was regretting her decision or not.

"You don't have to go today." I reminded her.

"I know, I want to." she answered and tugged on my hand.

We walked towards the school and stopped at the bottom of the steps leading up to the front door. Brittany was standing there, waiting for us.

"Hi, Miss Pierce." Anna said, looking up at Brittany.

"Hey, Anna. How are you today?"

"I'm okay."

"You'll look after her?" I asked, knowing already that she would.

"I will. If there are any problems, I have your numbers." Brittany reassured me.

"Okay, have a good day sweetie." I said kneeling down so I was eye level with my little girl. "I love you."

"I love you too, mama. Bye." Anna said, letting go of my hand and reaching for Brittany's.

I knew she'd be safe. I knew Brittany would look after her. I just couldn't help but worry, I'd entrusted my little girl to this school yesterday and she'd ended up in hospital.

"I promise, I'll look after her." Brittany said, and gave me a small smile.

"Okay, have a good day Anna." I called, as they made their way inside the building. I felt lost. Something didn't feel right but I didn't know quite what it was. I trusted Brittany to look after Anna, and I was sure she'd do her best to look after her. 

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><p>"Anna!" the chorus of children's voices filled the room as Anna entered the room. Apparently her new friends really did care about her and they were worried.<p>

"Anna, I thought you had died!"

"I didn't think you were coming back!"

"What happened?"

Anna felt herself being pulled away from the questions and over to the table where she had been sitting yesterday. When she looked at who it was pulling her, she realised it wasn't Brittany taking her away from all the questions, but her new friend Lisa.

"Are you okay?" Lisa asked, as she sat down next to Anna.

"Yeah, better than I was yesterday." Anna replied, smiling at her friend.

"Good, you scared us." Lisa replied.

"Sorry."

"Okay, guys come huddle up. Sit here on the carpet while I take the register and see who's here." Brittany said, drawing the attention of all the kids. 

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><p>The rest of the day went by quickly for Anna. She found herself staying close to Brittany a lot. She didn't know why, but she felt safe when she was around the woman. Now, she was the last child left in the classroom, waiting with Brittany for her mom to come in. Anna had been looking forward to the dance class all day, but she felt a little tired.<p>

"Hey, baby." Santana said, as she walked into the room. She felt so relieved to see that Anna was okay.

"Hey, mama." Anna replied, throwing her arms around her mom.

"Are you okay?" Santana asked, looking down at Anna.

"Yeah, I'm just tired."

"You don't have to come to the dance class today, Anna. I can hold a spot for you." Brittany said, moving closer towards the child and her mother.

"You will?" Anna asked, looking up at Brittany.

"For you, of course." Brittany smiled, she really did like this little girl.

"You wanna go home?" Santana asked, picking Anna up.

"Yeah, I do." the child replied.

"Okay, why don't you go get your bag and your coat and we can get going." Santana said, kissing Anna's head and putting her down to go and get her things.

"She seemed okay for most of the day, she seemed to tire about an hour ago. I was tempted to call you and get you to come pick her up, but she told me not to." Brittany said.

"Thank you. For looking after her. And for keeping her a place on the dance team. She's crazy about dancing, I don't know where she gets it from." Santana rambled.

"It's not a problem. She's a good kid. And I'm sure she's a great little dancer." Brittany smiled.

Santana started to feel awkward. She wanted to do this. She had spent half the day finding it and the other half working out how to say what she wanted to say, without it coming across too weird. She knew Anna would be back any second and she wanted it done before then.

"Look, I uh ..." Santana started.

"Are you okay, you look a little ... hot." Brittany answered. She hadn't meant to so openly flirt, but she could cover that up. Santana did look a little flustered, but hot was a better word.

"I, um ... I got you something." Santana mumbled, handing over a medium sized square white box. "You looked after Anna for me yesterday, and you were there when I wasn't. When she really needed someone. I also know she's kind of your favourite, and I happen to know that you're her favourite too." Santana rambled. She needed to wrap this up. "So I got you something. It's nothing special, and if you don't like it I can return it." Santana knew all of that was lies. She couldn't return it, she'd had it made especially for Brittany. A custom design. It had cost her several hundred dollars and another hundred to have it finished today. There was no taking it back, and it certainly was special. Just like the woman she was giving it to.

"What is it?" Brittany asked, a smile forming.

"Open it and see." Santana smiled.

Brittany took special care opening the box. Inside she found a smaller wooden box. The box looked beautiful, Brittany could only imagine what the gift was going to be like. She opened the box, and took out the item. It had an opening in the middle, when she opened it, she saw the small ballerina twirling around and the music started playing. Brittany couldn't believe what she was seeing. A small tear found its way out of her eye and rolled down her cheek.

"Oh, god you hate it." Santana said, shaking her head at herself.

"No, no." Brittany managed to get out. "I love it. It's super special, and amazing and just wow."

"Cool music box." Anna said, coming back into the room. "Wait, can I call it a box? It's more of an apple." she added.

"Let's go, Anna." Santana said, reaching down and taking her little girls hand.

"Thank you." Brittany said, and before she knew what she was doing, she threw her arms around Santana. "Thank you." she whispered in the brunette's ear.

"You're welcome." Santana breathed.

"It's beautiful." Brittany said, pulling away.

"Just like you." Santana said before her brain could process what she was saying.

"Bye, Miss Pierce." Anna said, as she pulled Santana towards the door.

"Bye, Anna. Bye, Santana." Brittany replied, looking down at the apple shaped music box she knew Santana had to have had made. It was a one of a kind and it was perfect. Just like Santana.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey all a new chapter for you, this one is a bit of a filler chapter, but it's taking you in to all the informative stuff. One or two reveals in this chapter, so hope some of your questions are answered here. Thank you all as always, for the reviews both here and on twitter. Hope you enjoy this chapter :)**

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><p>Everything was becoming complicated, she'd been sent on a simple mission. Find the child and take her home. But now everything was changing. She was starting to have feelings for both the child and the mother. She knew that her original task was becoming harder and harder to perform the longer she spent with them. So why she had accepted this invitation, Brittany didn't know. But here she was standing at the front door, not knowing if she should knock, or turn around and walk away. She took a deep breath. Clearly nothing was as it seemed with this situation she found herself in, so she needed more information before she could continue this task. She took another deep breath and steadied herself, before she stepped forward and knocked three times, not too loud, but not too soft either. She took in anticipation, waiting for the door to open.<p>

Less than a minute later, the beautiful little girl came sauntering to the door, her sparkling green eyes wide, taking in the image of her teacher at her home. Her mother was standing just behind her.

"Hi Brittany, thanks for coming." Santana said, as she opened the door and took in the blonde standing in front of her.

"Hi Santana, thank you for inviting me." she replied.

"Miss Pierce." Anna said, looking up between the adults, trying to determine why her teacher was at her home.

"Hi Anna." Brittany added then.

"Come on in." Santana said, taking a step back and opening the door wider. "Anna, move over baby and let her in." she added.

"Thanks." Brittany said, as she stepped into the foyer. The house was nothing special, it was larger than most average houses, but it wasn't fancy. It seemed lived in, cosy and homely. She liked the feeling being here was giving her.

"Anna, can you go set the table please?" Santana asked, following Brittany in and taking her coat.

Anna stared blankly at her mother, still not knowing what was going on around her, as her teacher thanked her mom.

"Now, please?" Santana added, prompting Anna to move towards the kitchen.

"She's weired out at me being here." Brittany said with a nervous smile.

"She's okay, I probably should've told her you were coming before you got here though. My bad." Santana conceded.

A moments silence passed between the two with neither one knowing what to say or do next. Santana had come across some information, thanks to one of her contacts at the CIA and had decided to investigate it. She had trusted Brittany with Anna, and she didn't want her instincts to be wrong. She wasn't sure how Brittany would take the invitation to dinner on a saturday, but she was more than happy when the blonde had accepted. The truth was Santana had two reasons for wanting Brittany there, she wanted to follow up on the information she'd received, but she also wanted any excuse to spend more time with Brittany to get to know her better. Especially out of hours Brittany.

"Santana, are you okay?" Brittany asked, when she saw that Santana seemed lost in thought. The minute of silence between them seemed to last an eternity and neither one of them could stand it any longer.

"Yeah, sorry. Daydreaming." Santana said, as she made her way into the house. "You're not a vegetarian are you?"

"No. Are you?" Brittany asked.

Santana laughed, she'd just wanted to make sure that Brittany was okay with the menu, but Brittany seemed to take it as an opportunity to get to know the brunette better.

"No, I'm not. I made chicken for dinner. Is that okay?"

"Sounds great." Brittany answered.

Both women liked being around each other but they both had their own individual reasons for this get together and the small talk was starting to annoy both of them a little.

"Done, mama." Anna said, as she saw her mother and her teacher walk into the kitchen.

"Thank you." Santana said, as she went to the oven to retrieve the chicken. "Please, take a seat Brittany." she added, looking over her shoulder to see what Brittany was doing.

"Come sit by me." Anna said, taking Brittany's hand and leading her to the table.

"Okay." Brittany answered, looking down at the child. She really did like this girl. She was smart and she was pretty and she seemed kinda special. Brittany didn't know what it was about Anna that made her stand out, but she certainly did.

Brittany and Anna sat at the table as Santana set out the food, they made small talk, mostly Brittany asking how Anna was feeling. It had been three days since her trip to the hospital and she was mostly back to normal.

"This looks delicious, thank you Santana." Brittany said, as Santana sat down and started to dish out the food.

"You're welcome." Santana replied.

The rest of the dinner went smoothly, each of the girls enjoying their food, and making small talk about anything and everything. When they were done, Santana placed all the dishes in the dishwasher.

"Brittany can you excuse me for a minute? I just need to get this little lady ready for her bed."

"I can go now if you have things to do?" Brittany offered.

"No, there's something I need to talk to you about. I'll be twenty minutes, max." Santana explained. "Make yourself at home." she added.

"Goodnight, Miss Pierce." Anna said, as she hugged her teacher.

"When we're not at school, you can call me Brittany."

"Goodnight, Brittany." Anna said, as she pulled away and made her way towards the stairs.

"Bath, story then bed. I'll be twenty minutes. Seriously, make yourself at home." Santana said, before following Anna upstairs. 

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><p>Brittany felt a little lost. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. Every part of her wanted to look around and try to find out as much as she could about Santana and Anna, like why the child didn't really look like her mother. Sure she had the same long, brunette hair. But that was the only thing they seemed to have in common. Aside from that, they both looked totally different. But Brittany already knew the answer to that question. It was why she was here in the first place. In this house, in this city, in this state.<p>

She heard the water turn on above her and figured Santana was running Anna's bath. Brittany knew she needed answers, and she knew Santana may not give them to her. She really didn't want to snoop, but she needed information. Brittany began to open drawers, looking through mail and paperwork. She opened doors, and rifled through items, until she found a metal tin hidden in the corner of the cupboard she was in. She looked back towards the stairs to make sure Santana wasn't there, before she leaned in and took the tin from the cupboard. She pulled it out and opened the tin, and saw lots of different documents. This was clearly where Santana kept the important stuff.

Brittany looked through the papers, moving things aside, taking in all the differnt things she was looking at, Santana's social security information, drivers license, birth certificate, details on a safety deposit box, all the important information. Then she found another birth certificate, she knew it had to be Anna's. She picked up the document and looked at it. Anna's name, her date of birth, where she was born, the time she was born, and her parents names. Parent's names. Both of them, mother and father. Brittany looked over it. She needed to make a mental note of this guys name, see if she could dig a little once she'd left and try and find out anything she could about the guy. She started to wonder if maybe she'd got this all wrong. Maybe she'd mixed up her target. The child she was looking for had been taken from her parents. This couldn't be the same child. Could it?

"I know I said you should make yourself at home, but that's not quite what I had in mind." Santana said, standing at the bottom of the staircase.

Brittany whirled around to take in the brunette. She was surprised, Santana didn't seem angry or upset, she actually seemed like she'd partly been expecting to find Brittany like this, rifling through her drawers.

"Santana, I..." Brittany started, but Santana stopped her.

"What? You were looking for the bathroom?" Santana quipped.

"No, of course not. I... I uh, I was ..." Brittany stumbled, she hadn't thought through the excuse she would use if Santana found her snooping.

"You were looking for the TV remote?" Santana tried.

Brittany just shook her head. She knew Santana was playing with her. She knew that the brunette knew exactly what she'd been doing. The only thing she didn't know, was if Santana knew why.

"No." Brittany answered simply.

"Looking for a pen and some paper to leave me a note before you left?" Santana asked. Clearly she wasn't done with Brittany yet.

Brittany shook her head.

"Santana, I'm sorry. I was .." Brittany started.

"I know exactly what you were doing Brittany, the only question is, why?" Santana interrupted.

They stood staring at each other in silence. Neither one knowing what to say next. Brittany knew she had a decision to make here, she could be honest and show all her cards and see what Santana had to say, or she could make something up and still try to complete her task.

"Santana, before you went upstairs you said you had something you needed to talk to me about. Well, turns out, I have something to talk to you about too." Brittany answered.

"Well then, let's hear it." Santana said, moving closer to Brittany. "Although, I'd appreciate if you'd put those back first." she added, taking a seat on the sofa.

Brittany quickly put all the documents back in the tin and replaced it back where it had been inside the cupboard. She took a deep breath and made her way over to Santana and sat down facing her.

"Where do I start?" Brittany said outloud, but she was asking herself more than Santana.

"The beginning is usually a good place." Santana answered.

"My name is Brittany Pierce and I'm twenty eight years old." Brittany started.

"Maybe not that much near the beginning." Santana quipped.

"Please, let me do this my way, or I won't be able to do it at all." Brittany explained.

Santana nodded, she wanted to hear this so she was prepared to listen to Brittany however far back she went into her story.

"Eight years ago, my thirteen year old sister went missing from her high school. For so long we waited for a kidnap ransom, but one never came. Then we waited for the police to tell us that they'd found her body. When that didn't happen my family were left in a state of limbo, not knowing what really happened to her. For so long, losing her felt like I'd lost a part of myself and I never wanted anyone to ever feel that way. So, I became a private investigator."

Santana hadn't been expecting that. She sat in awe, just listening taking in everything Brittany was saying. She wanted to know as much about the blonde as she was willing to tell.

"A few months ago, a couple came to me. They said that their daughter had been kidnapped at birth and that they would pay anything and do anything to get her back. I took some details from them, and they led me here. I've held my teaching degree for years but never used it. I figured now was the best time to use it, what better way to find a child than at a school, right?" Brittany said, looking up at Santana.

Santana nodded. The pieces were starting to fit now. Everything was starting to make sense to her.

"So you got a job teaching kindergarten to find the missing kid." Santana said.

Brittany nodded.

"I wasn't totally sure but I had an idea that the child was in my class. I didn't know about the lunch though. You have to believe me on that. I would NEVER harm a child!" Brittany said.

"They knew their daughter had an allergy?" Santana asked, looking at Brittany as more and more pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place.

"Yeah, so they put PB&J sandwiches in all the home lunches. They couldn't get to the school lunches, so the home lunches were the best place for them to start. I don't know who THEY are, Santana. I promise you that."

"So when Anna was the only child to react, you assumed she was the child you were looking for." Santana was starting to piece it all together. "But what about the children who had the school lunches? What if any of them have an allergy that 'they' don't know about because the child hasn't been exposed yet?"

"When Anna reacted, they felt they found who they were looking for. So for now, they've stopped their search. They believe Anna is their daughter. And that's why I'm here." Brittany said.

"So, what now? You're supposed to tell them they were right and someone is going to come and try take my daughter away from me?" Santana asked.

"Yeah, that's whats's supposed to happen next. But I'm starting to doubt it. I mean Anna's your daughter. You have a birth certificate, her fathers name is on it. Maybe the child they're looking for is actually one of the other children in my class. Santana, I want it to be one of the other children, I like you, a LOT, and Anna is such a special child. I don't want to screw this up." Brittany said, looking into Santana's eyes for the first time since their conversation had started.

Santana took a deep breath, she knew she had to protect Anna, but she also knew that even if she could side track 'them' by having them test their peanut allergy on the other children in Anna's class, that it wouldn't hold them off forever. She also knew that if they'd gone to Brittany, they would probably have others out looking too. There was also something about Brittany and her story about her sister that made Santana want to tell her the truth.

"Anna is the child you're looking for, but she must never know."

Brittany looked at Santana in shock. She'd suspected this all along, but having it confirmed was something different. She had really wanted this not to be true. She was developing feelings for Santana and she had become really fond of Anna.

"The story you've been told, about her being kidnapped, is bullshit! They abandoned Anna, and I saved her. Everything you've been told is a lie, Brittany. If you want to know the truth, I'll tell you. But you must understand, everything will change and you will probably be in danger. My instincts are to trust you with this, just like I trusted you with my daughter in that hospital, please don't prove my instincts wrong." 

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><p><strong>AN2: The good stuff is coming in the next chapter, hit the reviews and let me know what you think :) Thanks.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you guys for all the reviews, both here and on twitter. I know several of you have lots of questions and hopefully this chapter will answer some of them. I decided, now at 4.15am that I would upload this chapter, it's not a lengthy one, but I went for quality (I.E Answers) over quantity. I get that there are still lots of unanswered questions, but I promise as this story progresses, they will be answered. Any questions, please feel free to PM me, or find me on twitter. The address is in my bio. And please leave a review, let me know what you guys think. Thanks once again to all those who do review, and have reviewed consistently. You guys are my motivation. Enough from me, here is your 4am update, enjoy! :)**

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><p>"Santana, I don't even know what to say to you. How could you take somebody's child away from them? How could you make that child live a lie for the first five years of her life? How can you keep telling lies to people about her and you and your relationship with her? Who are you?" Brittany asked, a jumble of thoughts escaping her. She'd been left shocked by Santana's revelation and now she felt lost.<p>

"If only you knew what I've been through for that little girl to be safe, and stay safe, from the moment she entered my life. She is all I live for. I would do anything to protect her. I would kill for her! I would die for her! I love her more than her real parents ever did and you want to say that I'm a bad person for that? Then you go right ahead. If you want answers though, Brittany, you need to stop judging me and my situation, and listen to what I have to say." Santana replied. She was pissed off that the woman she had come to care about was being so flippant and blase about something she knew very little about.

"Santana a woman would never just leave her newborn child! It just wouldn't happen! A mothers instinct is to protect and love her child and you want me to believe that the people who hired me didn't do that? That they just abandoned their baby? Why? Why would anybody do that?" Brittany asked.

"You want the truth Brittany? The real truth, the full truth?" Santana asked.

Brittany nodded. She wanted answers from the brunette, she needed to know everything before she decided what her next move would be.

"Then you need to sit your ass down, and keep your mouth shut! Now, I know that sounds harsh. Hell, it is harsh. But if you want the truth, everything I know, If you want me to trust you with the safety and future of my little girl, then you need to shut up and listen and not judge. Do you think you can do that?" Santana asked, looking the blonde directly in the eye.

Brittany had been pacing the room, she felt so much tension in her body, and pacing helped. But she wanted answers, and she was willing to do whatever Santana wanted to get them.

"Okay." Brittany said, as she made her way towards the sofa and sat down facing Santana. She thought about sitting next to the brunette but knew she couldn't face being that close to her knowing that a lot of hard truths were going to come her way.

Santana took a deep breath. She really did like Brittany, she'd grown really fond of the blonde. If things had been different, she would probably have asked her out on a date by now, who knew where that might have taken them. But things weren't different, Brittany was here for Anna and Santana had to set the record straight. Brittany was working from a lie, and Santana didn't want the blonde to do that anymore. She wanted her to have the truth and make her own decisions from there.

"When I was nineteen years old, I was recruited by the government. I underwent tests and training and on my twentieth birthday I joined the CIA. My role mainly was intel, find out as much as I could by tailing someone my bosses had found. Someone who was a threat to our country and the American people. I was good at it. I did it for two years and I enjoyed it a lot!" Santana began. She was sitting on the edge of her seat, head hung, wringing her hands. She was opening herself up, whether it was safe or not, she wanted to tell Brittany everything, and it made her feel vulnerable.

"When someone I was tailing made me, I should've known straight away. I wasn't a rookie, I'd been doing the job long enough. But I didn't and I walked right in to a trap. I was held hostage for three days, beaten, tortured and worse. That was the biggest mistake of my life, being caught like that." Santana found herself welling up at the memory.

Brittany sat on the opposite sofa, watching Santana. She could tell the brunette was in pain reliving these memories, and she started to wish she'd sat closer. Regardless of her confusion and her anger about the situation, she still felt like she needed to comfort Santana, to help her get her story out. Instead the blonde just sat patiently and listened as the brunette went on.

"A group of terrorists planned to blow up the Statue of Liberty, I'd found out the best intel about it whilst I was captured, but I couldn't get that back to the agency. On the day the attack was planned, I was left with a sentry. Just one lone guy. He was supposed to kill me. Put a bullet in my head and end me right then and there. Instead, he decided he'd have a little fun with me first." Santana stiffened when she said it.

Brittany could tell Santana was mentally reliving the whole situation all over again. It pained her to see the brunette in such distress.

"His biggest mistake turned out to be my biggest advantage, when he threw me down on the bed and unzipped his pants, his head wasn't in the game. I used that to my advantage, in a heartbeat, I grabbed the combat knife from his vest and I lodged it into his neck. I'll never forget the look on his face. That was the first time I killed a man." Santana said, as a lone tear escaped and rolled down her cheek. She reached up and wiped it away before it could fall.

"Santana, he ..." Brittany began but Santana stopped her.

"Brittany please, I need to do this my way. I need you to just listen." Santana pleaded, looking up to take in the blonde's piercing blue eyes.

Brittany nodded, as much as she wanted to be there for Santana right now, Santana needed to be inside her own head, and feel as little emotion as possible.

"After that day, I requested a transfer. I couldn't be blindsided like that again. If I was gonna go into combat and face the danger of these guys, it wasn't gonna be to gather intel. Three weeks later, I became a part of a team known as The ATO. The Assasins of Terrorist Organizations. When somebody collected all the relevant intel we needed, we went in and we took out the teams of people that were planning the terrorist attacks. It was that simple."

"Santana, where does Anna fit in to all of this?" Brittany asked, wondering where Santana was going with this story.

"Five years ago, we recieved intel of a terrorist group calling themselves The Family. The intel was that these people planned to attack in a pretty clever way. Several members of 'The Family' had gotten themselves jobs at factories and shipping departments and even one in the office of one of the biggest bottled water companies in the United States. They planned to poison our bottled water, and ship it all across America, killing thousands of American people. The office worker who re routed everything so that the poisoned water was distributed, was the second in command at the organization known as 'The Family', she was also Anna's mother." Santana looked up, she wanted to make sure Brittany was taking this all in.

"Anna's mother was a terrorist?" Brittany asked in shock and disbelief.

"Was and still is." Santana explained. "She used Anna, she never wanted a child, she was never planning to be a mother. Being pregnant made her and her husband less suspicious. They led what seemed to be ordinary lives to the outside world, but there was nothing ordinary about these people. If Anna had been raised by them, she wouldn't be far away from being recruited into 'The Family'. They start training their members from the age of six, filling their heads full of propoganda bullshit, trying to make them hate the country they've grown up loving. Anna is safer with me than she ever was with them, and she is more loved now than she has ever been."

"What am I supposed to do with this information, Santana? She's still their daughter. They hired me to find her." Brittany pleaded, standing up and moving towards the brunette.

"When I found Anna, I was looking for her parents. I'd been sent to kill them, to reduce the risk of threat to our country and maybe to close down 'The Family'. I went into that house, and I was supposed to kill anybody I came across. Male or female. Old or young. They left her Brittany, they cared so much about their seven week old baby girl, that they left her in a utility closet to save themselves. They didn't care about her enough to take her with them. When I found her, she was lying amongst towels, with a paper bag not far from her. She had three outfits and a few loose diapers in that bag, Brit. That's how well looked after and cared for she was by them!" Santana felt herself getting emotional. She didn't like to think of Anna's life and what her conditions had been like in the two short months before she'd found her.

"They left her behind." Brittany echoed, sitting next to Santana and taking the brunettes hand in her own. "She wasn't kidnapped and taken away from them like they led me to believe."

"No, Brit. She wasn't. I was supposed to kill her. But looking down at her, into those innocent, beautiful green eyes, I knew I could never harm her. And when I decided on that day to save her, I dedicated myself to her, to protecting her, loving her and raising her to be a good person. She has been my daughter ever since, and I changed my whole life for her. I left the CIA a few weeks after I decided to keep and raise Anna as my own. They helped me to create a new identity for her, and we moved to a new city."

"Why are her parents coming after her now? And how do they know where she was, or that you kept her and have been raising her?" Brittany asked, looking into Santana's brown eyes.

"I don't know any of that yet, Brit. But what I do know, is that her parents have come to finish something they started five years ago, and maybe they wanna recruit her while they're here." Santana replied. "And that's the scariest part about it, I don't know if they are using Anna to get to me, or if they're using me to get to Anna."

"Well, whatever their plan is, I'm on your side. She's a good kid. And you're a good person. I don't want anything bad to happen to either of you." Brittany answered, as she pulled Santana in for an unxpected hug.

Things were about to get crazy and complicated and Santana was glad that she'd decided to tell Brittany the truth. She wasn't sure what it was about the blonde, but Santana knew she'd be a pretty good ally to have. Once again, when it mattered most, Santana's instincts hadn't failed her.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey guys, another chapter for you. I know a lot of you guys reviewed and I was going to do individual replies here, but I've not been feeling too good recently and barely managed to get this chapter out. I apologise for any spelling mistakes or anything because I haven't had the time to go through it. Hope you enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think in the reviews section. Thank you all as always for your reviews both here and on twitter. I appreciate each and every one of you. Enough from me, hope you enjoy the chapter :)**

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><p>"Mama, why do you and Miss Pierce look so serious?" Anna asked as she wandered down the stairs in a semi sleepy state, rubbing at her eyes. She wasn't sure how long she'd been asleep but she knew it was still dark outside so it couldn't have been that long.<p>

"Anna, what are you doing up?" Santana asked, looking at her watch to make sure she hadn't lost a few hours along the way.

"I heard you guys talking, and I couldn't sleep. What's wrong mama?" Anna asked, as she walked further into the room and sat on her mothers lap.

"I'm sorry baby, I didn't mean to wake you. Brittany and I were just talking about some stuff." Santana tried to explain.

"What stuff?" Anna asked, rubbing at her eyes again. She looked so adorable in her baby blue, frozen onesie, and she was clearly still sleepy.

"Adult stuff." Santana said, tucking a loose strand of her behind her little girls ear.

"Mom!" Anna whined, "You always say that when you don't wanna explain something to me. It's not fair." she added.

"Hey munchkin, your mom and I were just talking about how special we think you are and how I love having you in my class. You gave us a scare with that peanut allergy, and it made us worry about you. Your mom just doesn't wanna admit how much of a big softie she is, and how much it scared her." Brittany tried, hoping the semi truth would help make what she was saying sound believeable to the child.

Anna looked between her mother and Brittany, her little mind was working, trying to decide if she believed what she was hearing. She knew her mom liked to be seen as a badass, so feeling so vulnerable was probably something she didn't want to talk about too much.

"Is that why you guys look so serious? Because you're worried about me?" Anna asked.

Brittany and Santana shared a look before they both nodded.

"Well, I'm okay now. And now we know about the allergy, I have my epipen. I'm okay." Anna said, hoping to please her mother and her teacher.

Santana pulled Anna closer and hugged her a little tighter. She loved this little girl more than anything. The thought that someone may be trying to get to her, scared her more than she was willing to admit. She would do anything and everything to protect her.

"You should be in bed, baby. Let's go." Santana said, making a move to stand and take Anna back to bed.

"Mama, can I have a story before I go to sleep?" Anna asked, leaning her head on her mothers shoulder.

"Sure, but just a short one, it's late. You need to sleep." Santana replied.

"Mama, can Brittany read to me instead?" Anna asked then, stopping Santana in her tracks.

"Uh, Anna, Brittany has to leave soon. I can read to you?" Santana tried to reason.

"Uh-uh. I want Brittany. Please, mama?" Anna asked, pulling her head from where it had been resting on her mothers shoulder to look her in the eye. She knew her mother would fold if she gave her that trademark look.

"I don't mind?" Brittany offered.

"Are you sure?" Santana asked, as she looked between her little girl and the blonde.

"Yeah, I love reading to kids. I do it all the time." Brittany mused.

Santana kissed Anna on the head, before handing her over to Brittany.

"Take care of her." Santana asked, the pleading look in her eyes speaking volumes to Brittany.

"Always." Brittany answered, as she made her way towards the stairs.

"Goodnight, mama." Anna called.

"Goodnight, baby. Sweet dreams." Santana answered. 

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><p>"It's me. I've found the child and the woman. Which one do you want me to focus on?"<p>

"The child was a means to an end. She was never the purpose. Our target has always been the woman. The child may come in handy at a later date, as a means to get to the woman. But your main target is the woman. Don't let her out of your sight."

"Yes, ma'am. Also, just in case you guys are interested, the blonde that was hired to find the child, she seems to be getting close to the targets. She's been at the house for several hours."

"We no longer have a use for her, she served her purpose. Although, she could be useful as an asset, to use against the agent. I'll assign another member of The Family to take care of her. You stick with the woman."

"For the family."

"Always for the family." 

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><p>Santana found herself dropping Anna off at school reluctantly, the next day. She trusted Brittany would look after her little girl, and she knew she had things to do. She had to check in with the agency and see what new information they had for her, if any.<p>

Brittany had gotten Anna back to sleep the previous night, and had told Santana that she could trust her with the little girl. She was there to help them, whatever they needed, whenever they needed it. The two had shared in a moment last night, a moment of unspoken promises and declarations of trust and caring on both sides.

Santana watched as Anna raced to the front door of the school building, and met up with the blonde. She felt herself smile, and something inside her felt relaxed. She knew she could trust Brittany and she knew Anna was safe with her. Santana rolled the car window down and waved at both Anna and Brittany, before she drove off.

Less than thirty minutes later, Santana was back at her HQ. To the outside world, it was a twenty story office building, with several different companies housed inside. The top three floors belonging to the company the CIA had created as their cover. Santana swiped in her access card on the ground floor and walked through the big main foyer. The building was as busy as ever, with several people mulling around, looking at signs to find out what floor they needed, and people at the main reception desk. Santana always scanned the crowd. It was something she had been taught in her training. Scan the crowd, assess any potential danger.

When she got to the elevator bank, Santana walked to the third of the four elevators on the right hand side. There were four more on the opposite side, but the last two on the right had something the other six didn't. Santana pressed the call button and waited for the elevator to come down. As she waited, she saw two women and a man standing at the first elevator, also waiting to make their way up to their floor. The two women seemed to be making small talk, and from what she could hear Santana assumed they worked together. The man standing behind them though was completely silent. He stood with a brown leather briefcase in his left hand, and he stood entirely still. Santana wondered if something was wrong, she assessed him as a threat but almost instantly dismissed it. She figured he was just a weird guy in a suit, waiting for an elevator. Maybe he had a job interview on one of the other seventeen floors.

When the elevator dinged to alert Santana to it's arrival, she stepped on to the elevator and paused. She wanted to make sure she was alone before she did what she was about to do. When the elevator doors finally closed a few seconds later, and she was alone, Santana stepped up to the panel that held the buttons. She dialled in a five digit code, using the floor numbers, and swiped her access card across the small camera above the number panel. A second later, she bent just a little so she was at eye level, and stood for several seconds as the camera took a retinal scan. When that was done, she stepped back and pushed the button for the top floor.

The elevator rose, slowly. Santana's code over rode any buttons calling for the elevator on any of the other floors, so it was a straight journey, none stop to the top floor. When Santana looked up she saw that she'd just passed the twentieth floor. The floor the general public thought was the top floor. But of course it wasn't. The CIA had another floor at the top of the building concealed from the general public. It's what made it such a good place for them to put the field headquarters there.

Santana stepped off the elevator when it came to it's final stop, and saw the familiar red head sitting at her desk. The woman looked like a regular secretary. It often amused Santana how regular the red head looked, because she was often undermined and it had cost a few people their lives, on the odd occcasion. No, the red head certainly didn't look like a trained killer, and that's what made her perfect for the front of house role she was playing at the reception desk.

"Santana, my God! It's been a while!" the red head said, as she stood from where she had been sitting and reached over the reception desk to take Santana's hand in her own.

"Tasmin, you're looking innocent as ever!" Santana mused, as she took the red heads hand in her own and shook it. They'd almost been partnered once, almost.

"Are you back?" Tasmin asked, shocked at the thought.

"Just for this one case, yeah." Santana answered, she hadn't realised how much she'd missed her friend, and almost partner.

"Who are you here to see?" Tasmin asked.

"Jacobs." Santana replied.

"Swipe your access card at the glass double doors there on the right." the red head pointed. "Jacobs is in the third room on your left." she added.

"Thanks, Tam." Santana said, smiling at the red head. "It's good to see you again." she added.

"Yeah, it's good to see you too Santana. If you have time, maybe we could catch up?" the red head called after Santana as she made her way towards the glass double doors.

"I'll talk to you on my way out?" Santana offered, swiping her card.

She turned to see the red head nodding and smiling in her direction. Santana was never sure but she'd thought Tasmin had had a crush on her at one point in the past. Nothing had ever happened and they'd been such good friends at one point. Santana hoped she would be able to catch up with the red head before things got crazy. 

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><p>"Santana Lopez!" the male voice boomed all over the floor. She was sure it would attract the attention of anyone nearby, but it didn't. Clearly the other agents must have been busy, or they were used to their boss shouting like this.<p>

"Ryan Jacobs, sir." Santana said as she walked into his office and closed the door behind her. Everything seemed to be made of glass here, doors, walls, ceilings. It seemed weird to Santana, but then she knew it wouldn't just be plain glass.

"Take a seat, Lopez." Ryan said, as he stood from the large plush leather chair he'd been sitting on behind his desk. Ryan Jacobs was in his fifties, but looking at him you'd say he was never a day over thirty five. His hair was mostly a dark brown, but held several grey hairs. Santana wondered if this was where the Silver Fox nickname had come from. Santana had to admit he was a good looking guy. Not her type of course, but very handsome for his age, and very fit.

"I hear, several years ago, you walked in to the house of the leaders of The Family, and you walked out having kicked a hornets nest."

"Sir?" Santana asked, not quite sure where her boss was going with this.

"The baby, Lopez. You took the baby. A child of The Family." her boss answered, walking to his cabinet and taking out a glass decanter full of scotch. He poured himself a drink and leaned the bottle towards Santana, offering her a drink too. She declined.

"What were you thinking? What happened? And why haven't you been spoken to about this before?" Ryan reeled off, gulping his scotch down in one large swig.

Santana sat in silence, she had to hear him out. She needed his help, so she would sit and take whatever he had to dish out first.

"Are they back for the baby?" he asked then, as he poured himself another drink.

"I don't know for sure, sir." Santana answered honestly.

"What else could they be back for?" he asked, walking back to his desk and taking a seat in his leather chair. He placed the glass of scotch on his desk in front of him, and leaned towards the desk so that he was closer to Santana, looking her directly in the eyes.

"You know you've caused a shit storm here, right? You'd have been better putting a bullet in that kids head."

Santana stiffened. She knew that was what she was supposed to do all those years ago, but she couldn't do it then and she certainly couldn't do it now. Anna had just been a stranger to her then, but even then she'd felt the need and instinct to protect her. Now that instinct was even stronger. She hated hearing her boss talk about her little girl like this.

"Sir, the child was innocent. They left her behind. I don't think they've come back for her. They could've done that at any time in the last few years, why would they have waited until now?" Santana tried to reason.

"Shit, I don't know, Lopez! How the hell am I supposed to know what a bunch of weirdo's who wanna destroy our country think? The fact is, they're back. And from the intel we've found, they plan on carrying out the attack you foiled five years ago. I'm guessing if they can get the kid back while they're here, then they will." Ryan said, before he reached for the glass of scotch and downed it.

"Sir, what can I do? Give me a directive. Give me an order. Tell me how I can help?" Santana asked, willing to do anything and everything in her power to get rid of Anna's parents for good.

"We have a team assigned to the Family, we believe we're closing in on the location of most of them, but the kids parents seem to be somewhere else. They haven't been picked up by the surveillance. And we believe they're the biggest threat. Santana I know you haven't done field work in a long time, I also know that you have taken on a much less active role here in the CIA, but I think you and that kid of yours will be integral to finding the leaders of the Family and bringing this terrorist organization down, once and for all. There is just one thing I need to ask of you, Lopez. When the time comes, can you and will you take out the kids parents?"

Santana was slightly taken aback. She hadn't killed anyone in years, she had taken a major step back from her job since Anna had come into her life. She knew she would do anything to track down and apprend Anna's birth parents, but killing them hadn't entered her mind. She assumed they would be locked up for life, now her boss was asking her to kill them.

"If it comes down to it, and if needs be. I will end this." Santana found herself saying.

"Good, we have a lead for you to work on. Tasmin will have the paperwork ready for you when you leave." Ryan answered, standing to signal their meeting had come to a close.

"Thank you for your help, sir." Santana said as she offered her hand for her boss to shake.

"Welcome back, Lopez!" her boss said, shaking her hand.

Santana wasn't sure why, but she felt like she'd just made a deal with the devil.


	7. Chapter 7

It had been three days since Santana had walked into the field headquarters and sat down to a meeting with Ryan Jacobs. Three days since she had chosen to leave Anna in Brittany's care and follow the lead she had been given. It pained Santana more than she ever thought was possible to leave the child behind, but she knew where she was going was no place for a child. Especially this child. She'd agreed to leave Anna in Brittany's care on one condition, that the two of them didn't go anywhere near the school while she was away. She provided them with a safe place to stay and an on demand movie service that Anna would no doubt make a big dent in before she got back. She needed to make sure that the two people she cared most about, were safe while she was gone. She couldn't protect them from a distance so she had to do the best she could before she left and that meant moving them away from their normal routines.

Now, sitting in a car, borrowed from the CIA, Santana couldn't help but think of her little girl and the woman who was slowly stealing her heart. She had spent the last ten hours doing surveillance of this building. She was in the middle of nowhere, with no back up, but she wasn't worried. She could handle herself. Santana knew that if it came down to it, she was more than capable of protecting herself.

Right now, after ten hours of being stuck in this car, in the middle of nowhere, Santana craved coffee and some decent food. A shower would've been nice too.

From beside her, on the passenger seat Santana's cell phone rang, pulling her attention from the building across the street. It was almost three a.m so she had a good idea of who it was.

"Lopez." she answered into the phone, repositioning herself.

"Any progress?" the female voice asked on the other end of the line.

"Some, ma'am." Santana answered honestly. "Some movement, I believe I have a strong lead." she added.

"We're ready to make a move. There are a couple of dozen members of The Family in a building here in New York and we want to move in and take them down. But we don't want to spook the boss. We're waiting on you now."

"I have a lead to follow, give me an hour, if you don't hear from me, move in." Santana replied.

"Copy that. You sure you can handle this?"

"Yes, ma'am. I can do this. You have nothing to worry about."

"Glad to hear it. You've been missed in this organisation, Lopez. It's good to have you back on board. Now let's clean up this mess so we can all move on."

"Yes, ma'am. I couldn't agree more." Santana answered.

"You have one hour."

When the line went dead, Santana threw the phone back down on to the passenger seat. She really could do with some coffee right now. She needed to be as awake and alert as possible. Not sleeping for the past three days hadn't helped, but she was determined to get this over and done with so that she could get back home.

Santana took a deep breath, she had one hour to make this work, one hour to put the past to bed. She wanted this over and done with. She wanted to be back at home with her girls. 

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><p>Brittany had promised she would look after Anna and do everything in her power to protect the girl. She had given Santana her word. But now everything was going to hell.<p>

Anna had spent most of the time watching Disney movies and wasn't even phased about the fact she'd been stuck in a hotel somewhere with her teacher for three days. She'd been upset at the thought of her mother leaving, but Santana had promised it would only be for a few days and that when she was back, they could go on a trip together, anywhere Anna wanted. Of course Anna had said she wanted to go to Disney World and meet all her favourite characters and Santana had agreed.

So far there had been no problems, Anna had been watching all her favourite shows, and Brittany had been secretly climbing the walls. She felt like she had such a huge responsibility right now. Looking after Anna was on her. She had to protect the child. On her own. With no help from Santana.

She'd managed to do it though. She'd gotten over the cabin fever and survived the three days enclosed in a room, never leaving or going out. Opening windows for fresh air or ordering room service for something to eat. They'd gotten through it. Until now. Three days of doing everything right had suddenly all been wiped out by doing one thing wrong. Brittany couldn't believe this was happening. She had been tricked and now she was left with the daunting task of calling Santana and letting her now that Anna had been taken.

* * *

><p>Santana looked at her watch. She had twenty minutes before the CIA terrorist team went in and took out the members of The Family they had under surveillance. She had been expecting someone, anyone to leave the building at some point and allow her the way in she had been looking for. But of the five people who had gone in the night before, none had come back out again. Something felt wrong, Santana couldn't place her finger on it, but she felt like something was out of place.<p>

To settle her nerves, Santana reached into the back of the car and pulled a black tote bag into the front. She unzipped the bag, and started to remove items. She had enough firepower in this bag to take out a small army, and she would. If she needed to. Keeping her eye on the building across the street, she began to strip down her weapons and check them over. She needed to make sure nothing unexpected happened. She couldn't have one of her weapons misfiring or not firing at all due to her lack of use or maintainance of them. It had been a long time since Santana had used any of these weapons, but she knew how to look after them and she certainly knew how to use them. As she finished with the glock in her hand and placed it back into the bag beside her, she looked up at the building. Not a lot was going on. In fact, it was dead outside. Very quiet.

A ringing cell phone pulled Santana's attention from the building. She checked the caller I.D The number was unknown but she answered it anyway. She knew there weren't many people who could be calling her at this time of the morning.

"Hello?" Santana answered.

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. Santana was about to hang up when she heard what sounded like someone crying. Her heart skipped a beat. Something was wrong. She had sensed it earlier, but she knew it now.

"Who's there?" Santana asked.

"San, it's ... it's me.. Brittany." came the voice at the other end of the line.

"Brit, what is it? What's going on? Are you okay?" Santana launched the questions, her mind working at a mile a minute.

"No. I mean, yeah. I'm fine .. it's just. It's Anna. Santana I'm so sorry!" Brittany cried, trying to reign in her emotions so she could tell Santana what she needed to know.

"Anna. What about her? What's wrong? Is she ok? Put her on the phone." Santana demanded, feeling her emotions change from sadness to anger and confusion.

"I can't put her on the phone. San ... Anna's gone. I'm sorry. I ... She ... dammit!" Brittany said.

"What?! What do you mean she's gone?! Where the hell is my daughter Brittany?!" Santana demanded, feeling her anger spike right off the scale.

"There was a knock at the door, Anna wanted ice cream so I ordered room service. She was watching Bambi and I went to answer the door, when I got there, there was a guy in a waiters outfit, he said they didn't have the ice cream flavour that Anna had chosen, so he'd brought a selection for her to choose from. I didn't wanna let him in the room, so I just grabbed a couple different ones and I closed the door. When I got back into the room, the window was open and Anna was gone. I dropped the ice cream and I ran to the window. Santana they took her. The people that hired me to find her, they took her. I'm sorry. I made a mistake and now she's gone. Santana, what can I do?" Brittany asked, tears flowing freely. She was truly heartbroken by what had happened.

Santana stiffened. She'd trusted Brittany. What happened wasn't her fault, but she should have known better. She took a breath and steadied herself before answering the blonde.

"There's nothing you can do now, Brittany. But there's something I can do. Something I HAVE to do now. I'm sorry I have to go." Santana answered, preparing to hang up.

Before she could put the phone down though, Brittany stopped her.

"Wait! Santana tell me what I can do. Something, anything. Please, I care about that little girl. I wanna help you get her back to where she belongs. Let me do something to help. Please, San?" Brittany pleaded.

Santana paused. She needed to use her head. As much as her heart wanted to take over, she couldn't let her.

"There's nothing you can do. I have to go." Santana said, putting the phone down. She knew Brittany would be feeling responsible now, and that she needed some reassurances. Some comfort. But Santana couldn't give her that, not right now.

Santana dialled the number she had received the call from an hour ago and waited for her boss to answer. After four rings, the call was picked up.

"What is it Lopez?"

"Move in. I have what I need here." Santana said, fully prepared to enter the building across from her and take down anyone that got in her way. She had more of an incentive now than she ever had before.

"Are you sure?" the female voice came on the other end of the line.

"Yes, ma'am. I have this under control." Santana replied.

"Lopez, one more thing. There's been a change of plan."

"Ma'am?" Santana asked.

"We want you to take them alive. We have questions. We need answers and information that only they can give. Do you copy?"

"Ma'am, I was asked to take them out." Santana replied. She was gunning for blood. She wanted vengeance. She had been mentally preparing herself for this for days and now her directive was being changed.

"We want them alive. Simple. Do you copy Lopez? They must come to no harm. NONE."

Santana couldn't believe everything was changing. These people had taken her daughter, they wanted to destroy the country they all were trying to save. Why had the directive changed? Why was she being told to stand down?

"Ma'am. If I can, I will bring them in alive. If not, then I'll do whatever I can." Santana replied. She was trying to gain some breathing room. She had to have some time alone with these people. If she handed them over to the CIA, she would probably never see them again and Anna would end up god knows where. Santana couldn't allow that to happen. This was about so much more now. Her daughters life was in the balance.

"Not if, WHEN you bring them in Lopez. They will be alive, they will be unharmed. If anything happens to them, on your watch, there will be consequences. Do you understand?"

"Ma'am are you threatening me?" Santana asked, incredulous.

"Do. You. Understand?"

Santana swallowed hard. So she had to play by their rules now. She would do as they asked, but not before she got her daughter back first.

"Yes ma'am, I understand." Santana replied.

"Good. Bring them to the blacksite. Call control and they'll provide you with the details."

And with that the line went dead.

Santana knew she needed to use her head. If she stormed that building, all guns blazing, people would die, more would be injured. She needed to do this, but she needed to do it in the right way.

Brittany's words played over in Santana's mind. She wanted to help, she wanted to do anything she could to help her get Anna back. Santana picked up the phone and dialled Brittany's number.

The phone rang out and went to voicemail. Santana was surprised. She'd been expecting Brittany to be there. She hit the redial button and waited. A few seconds later, the call was answered.

"Santana, what is it? Do you have news?" Brittany asked.

"Can you contact the people who hired you?" Santana replied.

"I have a number, they gave it to me to call them if I found any information." Brittany answered.

"Good. I found a way you can help me. Call them. Tell them they messed with the wrong people. Tell them, if they wanna survive the day, they should bring Anna back. Because if they don't, I will find them, all of them. And I will kill them all! My family, or their family. It's their choice."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey guys, so here's a new chapter for you. Sorry about the delay in updating, real life stuff got in the way. Anyway, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are going to have a great New Year. As always thanks for the reviews, both here and on Twitter. Apparently there was an issue with the reviews on the last chapter but I thank everyone for their feedback. Anyway, enough from me, hope you enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

><p>Santana had just put the phone down, and was sat watching the building across the street. She'd asked Brittany for help, so all she could do now was sit and wait for a reply.<p>

But as the seconds turned into minutes, and the minutes turned into an hour, Santana began to panic. Had she made the right decision? Should she have just stormed that building, taking out anyone and everyone who got in her way? Should she have demanded to know where her daughter was, and bargain with lives to find her?

No, she'd done the right thing. She knew she had. If she'd have gone in all guns blazing, all hell could have broken loose, and she could lose Anna forever. Not to mention she'd have gotten into serious trouble with her boss.

No, as Santana sat and watched the building for any movement, she knew they were just making her sweat. She'd annoyed them, she'd downright pissed off the main people. They were just taking a little revenge, making her wait and worry.

Santana looked at her watch. Another ten minutes had passed. She began to wonder if maybe she should get out the car, go take a closer look at the building. She wasn't going to kill anyone or cause any damage, she just wanted to assess the place better.

Her ringing cellphone put a stop to those thoughts though. It wouldn't be long before the sun was coming up. It'd been one hell of a night, hell it'd been a crazy few days. But this was the call she'd been waiting for. This was her chance to finish this thing, once and for all.

She took a deep breath, counted to three. She had to act calm and composed even though all she wanted to do was kick some ass.

"Lopez." She answered.

There was a pause on the other end of the line. Total silence, it lasted five seconds. Santana counted. Somehow it felt longer though.

"My family or yours seems like a really strange choice of words, considering Anna is actually MY family. Don't you think?" came a female voice on the other end of the line.

Santana stiffened. This was Anna's birth mom, the woman who had left her in a closet as a helpless baby, just seven weeks old.

"Amanda, right?" Santana asked, making sure it was in fact who she thought it was.

"Ahh, she knows my name. Well done Santana." Anna's birth mom replied. "Oops, was I not supposed to know your name?" she asked, but then laughed out loud. She was toying with Santana and enjoying herself in the process.

"Where's Anna? Does Jeremy have her?" Santana asked, letting Amanda know she knew her husband's name too.

"Of course Jeremy doesn't have her, he has much more important things to do that to look after a little brat." Amanda spat.

Santana wondered if knowing both Anna's parents names had upset Amanda. She'd lashed out a little with her last comment and Santana thought that she might have a way in.

"Well, you can't be looking after her. You've never done it before. Do you even know how?" Santana asked, she was testing how much she could push this woman and trying to figure out what made her tick.

Santana heard a puff of breath on the other end of the line. Amanda wasn't liking what Santana had to say so far.

"You asked for this phone call, Miss Lopez! Don't make me end it prematurely." Amanda spat.

"You're right, Mrs Cole. I did ask for this phone call. And I know you're not such a bad mom really, I mean you DID sew Anna's name into the onesie she was wearing when I found her." Santana answered, trying to placate the woman a little.

There was a pause on the other end of the line again. Maybe Santana had touched a nerve, but maybe not a bad one this time. Maybe Amanda Cole had wanted to be a good mom after all but her circumstances and the life she led had prevented it. Santana began to wonder if she'd gotten this wrong. She had told herself that this wasn't about getting Anna back, but thinking along the lines of Amanda caring about the child, maybe she'd been wrong. Maybe the woman really did just want her daughter back and maybe she wanted to screw with Santana in the process from screwing up the last five years.

"Do you want the child to be returned to you or not?" Amanda asked then, pulling Santana out of her own mind.

"I do." Santana replied without any hesitation.

"You really love her, don't you?"

Santana wanted to say yes, that she loved the child with every fibre of her being and that there was nothing she wouldn't do for her. But she didn't want Amanda to realise the power she could have over her by using Anna against her, so she stayed quiet instead.

"I'll make you a deal." Amanda said then, filling the silence. "You can have Anna back, if we get back the twenty six members of The Family that your orginization has just taken from a building we had occupied in central New York."

"Wait, what? You took Anna so that you could trade her in?" Santana asked, completely surprised.

"Of course. We knew what the CIA were planning, we just couldn't warn our brothers and sisters in time for them to all get out. But we did have time to pick up a little person who was binge watching movies in the hotel room she'd been hid away in." Amanda replied, laughing slightly. "There's one more thing though Santana. Not only do we want our people back, I want my diary back that I believe is currently in your possession." Amanda added.

"Look, Amanda, I can give you the diary. But I can't make my bosses release twenty six people from a crime orginization who they've been targeting for years. You're asking me to do something that's impossible." Santana pleaded. There was no way her boss would release the members of The Family, no way at all.

"Then I guess you'd better say goodbye to Anna." Amanda said.

Santana heard shuffling around on the other end of the line, then something rip. She held her breath and waited.

"Mama?" came Anna's voice on the other end of the line. "Mama where are you? I wanna go home now!" Anna cried.

"Baby, it's okay. I'm gonna come and get you, okay? You trust mama right?" Santana asked, her heart pounding in her chest. So many emotions rushed through her body, she felt like she was going to explode.

"I trust you, Mama. Please come get me soon." Anna said, before she was pulled away from the phone. There was a pause again on the other end of the line before Amanda spoke again.

"Maybe I should keep her, teach her who she should and shouldn't trust." Amanda joked.

Santana felt her insides clench. She wanted to hurt this woman so badly. If only she'd have reached that building a little sooner five years ago. She could have killed this woman then and none of this would be happening!

"I'll do whatever you want me to do, but don't ask me to do the impossible and hold my daughter to ransom over it." Santana pleaded.

"You know, Santana, Anna is almost the perfect age for her to start training. The next time you saw her, she could be the one who wants to blow up your country"

"NO! Just tell me what to do. Anything I can do within my power, and I'll do it! She's just a child. She's innocent in all this!" Santana shouted.

"She was innocent five years ago too. I wanted to take her with me! I wanted to raise her and protect her! But I couldn't! They would have taken her from me and sold her! I didn't get to raise her and love her and protect her. Now, neither will you!" Amanda screamed before the phone went dead.

Santana felt her stomach churn. She was going to throw up, she knew it. Her body was wracked with sobs and her heart felt like it had been broken. She couldn't bear anything bad happening to Anna. She never wanted her to be inducted into The Family. She didn't want those terrorists film her baby girls mind with propoganda and hate for the country she lived in.

Santana opened the car door just in time as the threw up on the sidewalk. She couldn't let her baby go through that. She couldn't risk any harm coming to her. She had no more cards left to play, nowhere else to turn. She wiped her mouth and turned to the passenger seat and picked up the black tote bag. This was her only option. Amanda wanted Santana to return some members of The Family, along with the diary that had been in her possession since she picked it up in the locker at the Statue of Liberty. Santana couldn't return the twenty six members now at the blacksite, but she could return the ones from the building across the street.

Santana threw the tote over her shoulder and holstered the Glock at her hip. She sheathed the combat knife on her other hip and held a pair of Smith & Wesson .22 pistols, one in each hand. She didn't want to kill the people in the building, but she knew if she had to, she would and she had the fire power to do it. Santana strode, with a purpose, right across the street, the building she'd been surveilling for over twelve hours, directly in the cross hairs.

As she got to the door, she stopped. There was a man, sitting behind a desk, looking at several TV screens. Santana figured he was watching camera's all around the building, but that didn't matter. She'd made her decision now, she was going in and nothing was going to stop her.

* * *

><p>Brittany was pacing inside the hotel room. She hadn't really wanted to stay here but she didn't know what else to do. She'd done as Santana had asked, even though she really hadn't wanted to, and contacted the woman who had hired her. Right from the beginning she had believed this woman to be Anna's birth mother, but she found out that wasn't true. The woman she'd been in contact with, who had hired her to find Anna, was just another member of The Family. A woman Anna's birth mom had trusted to get the job done.<p>

Brittany had basically been the connection between Santana and Anna's birth mom and now all she could do was wait to hear from Santana. Maybe she would tell her what to do next. Maybe she'd ask for more help and Brittany wouldn't be left sitting around feeling helpless. But it had been almost two hours since she had made the phone call that connected Santana and Amanda and now all she could do was pace nervously and wait for any news.

Brittany glanced at the clock, it was almost 7am. She wanted something to do, she craved a purpose. Something, anything that would prevent her from feeling so isolated and out of the loop when the two people she cared most about were in danger. Her life was changing around her, she could feel it. But there was absolutely nothing she could do about it, nothing she could do to help Santana or Anna.

Brittany picked up the remote control and launched it at the wall. She was so frustrated. She couldn't have someone else she cared about disappear from her life, just like her sister had done eight years ago. She couldn't deal with anymore what if's, but's and maybe's. She needed to be proactive, she needed to do SOMETHING.

Brittany picked up her cellphone, and looked down at the screen. No missed calls, no messages waiting to be read. Just her home screen, with the time and date looking back up at her. She couldn't just sit here and wait anymore. She wasn't trained like Santana was, she didn't deal with national security or threats to her country. But she was a Private Investigator and she did know how to use a gun.

Brittany went to the closet, and reached up to the shelf at the top. She rummaged around until she felt the box at the back of the shelf, and pulled it down. She'd hidden this so that Anna wouldn't go near it, but she'd taken it just in case she'd needed it. Santana wouldn't be there to protect them if something went wrong, so she'd brought her own protection. Now, she hoped it would help her protect Anna and Santana.

Brittany was just about to unlock the box, when her cellphone vibrated against the table she'd just placed it on. When it didn't stop vibrating, Brittany knew it was a phone call and not a message. She ran the short distance across the room, and picked up the cell phone, answering without even checking the caller I.D

"Santana?" Brittany asked, hoping beyond hope that Santana had some good news for her.

"I need you to call your contact again." Santana's voice came over the other end of the line.

"Wait, what? Are you okay? What's happening? Have you found Anna?" Brittany felt herself fire off the questions before she even thought about them.

"I. Need. You. To. Call. Your. Contact. Again." Santana said, trying her best to keep the annoyed sarkiness from her voice and failing.

"Okay, I can do that. But San, please? Talk to me. I'm going out of my mind here. What's happening?" Brittany pleaded.

She heard Santana sigh on the other end of the line, she sounded tired and strung out. God only knew what she'd been going through the past two hours and Brittany wanted desperately to wrap her in her arms and tell her everything would be okay. But she didn't know that.

"I have to make a trade." Santana answered, her tiredness evident in her voice. "Amanda wants members of the family and her diary, which is in my possession, returned to her. I need to know where she wants to make the trade for my daughter."

"Santana, how do you have members of The Family to trade?" Brittany asked, not quite sure she wanted to know the answer.

Santana sighed. It had been a hell of a day and it was only 7am.

"I just took the building they were in, and I have Eight members of The Family in front of me. Granted one of them is dead, but that's more his fault than mine. So I have her diary and I have seven members of her precious Family. She wants to make a trade, I'm open to it." Santana answered.

"What do you mean you 'took the building'?" Brittany asked, but when no answer came, she decided that didn't matter right now. "Never mind, Santana I'll make the call and I'll get you a location, but I have one condition. And you have to agree to it." Brittany added.

"What is it Brittany?" Santana asked, clearly getting pissed off by this situation.

"I'm coming with you." Brittany replied, without even the slightest hesitation. She'd expected Santana to argue with her, to tell her there was no way that she'd allow the blonde to go with her into such a dangerous situation. But that didn't happen. There was no argument, no back and forth about who was right and what the right thing to do was.

"Okay." Santana simply answered. "Text me the address." she added, then hung up.

Brittany was surprised, Santana must be feeling all sorts of emotions and have so many different thoughts playing on her mind. She must be going through hell to not even fight her on this. But Brittany was glad. She didn't want to fight Santana, she wanted to fight alongside her to get Anna back, and to maybe, just maybe get Santana back too.


End file.
